Update:  Oops.  The media tricked me again.  This was the last GPS launch of Delta II, not the last launch of Delta II.  There are still apparently a handful of more Delta II launches planned.  Sorry for propagating my own confusion.

This morning a little after 6:30am, the very last Delta II rocket blasted off from Florida’s Space Coast carrying a GPS satellite into a successful orbit. According to local news reports, the newest GPS satellites are wider and heavier and will be launched from larger Atlas V or Delta IV rockets. Delta II rockets have been launching on the Space Coast for just over 20 years, so this morning’s event was truly the end of an era.  Here’s a photo of this morning’s launch from the Florida Today website (click it for full size image):

I was outside exercising this morning during the launch and caught some low quality photos using my phone (click them for full size images):